74th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2007 Regular Session
 
NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
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 LC 3045
 
                           A-Engrossed
 
                 Senate Concurrent Resolution 10
                   Ordered by the House May 14
             Including House Amendments dated May 14
 
Sponsored by Senator GORDLY, Representative MERKLEY
 
 
                             SUMMARY
 
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure.
 
  Mourns the flooding of Celilo Falls in 1957 and its loss to the
tribal people of Oregon.
 
                      CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
  Whereas Wyam, the great falls of N'ch-iwana, known to us as
Celilo Falls of the Columbia River, thundered for millennia in
the spiritual heart of the Northwest and was a natural wonder of
the world; and
  Whereas throughout the millennia Celilo Falls was the primary
place where Native People caught the giant chinook, blue-back and
coho salmon that struggled upstream through the rocky barrier of
tumbling waters and swift, narrow channels. The Native People's
record of habitation proves Wyam to be one of the longest
continuously inhabited communities on this continent; and
  Whereas for its thousands of years of human civilization, Wyam
was one of the world's great market places, and a half-dozen
tribes had permanent villages near the falls where some 5,000
people would gather to trade, feast and participate in games and
religious ceremonies; and
  Whereas the multitudes of salmon caught at Celilo Falls helped
make the Lower Columbia River among the wealthiest places in what
is now the United States and fostered a blossoming of rock art
culminating in the petroglyph Tsagaglallal, or She-Who-Watches,
and other great works; and
  Whereas the images of the dip netters reaching from their
vibrating scaffolds into the roiling river are an icon of the
native Northwest; and
  Whereas on March 10, 1957, the waters held back by The Dalles
Dam flooded and silenced the awesome and sacred roar of Celilo
Falls, severing a great spiritual connection between the Creator,
Mother Earth and the Native Peoples of Oregon; and
  Whereas the silence of the dead falls is rivaled only by the
silence in the hearts of the elders who remember the thunder of
the falls and the vibrant community struck down by the dam; and
  Whereas the Tribes of the Columbia River and the people of
Celilo Village will hold a memorial for Celilo Falls on March 10,
2007; now, therefore,
 
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
  Oregon:
  That we, the members of the Seventy-fourth Legislative
Assembly, mourn the flooding of Celilo Falls and recognize the
falls' great importance to the native peoples of Oregon in
providing sustenance from the salmon and a gathering place for
all Tribes and agree to observe a moment of silence on March 10,
2007; and be it further
  Resolved, That a copy of this resolution shall be presented to
the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes
of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Tribal Council of
the Nez Perce Tribe, the Wyam Board and the Tribal Council of the
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation.
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